The Children Seemed Happy and Confident in General. the Teachers Emphasized How the Children

I visited Anandan, a non-formal education center for underpriviledged children, in December 2006. At first, I was shown around the Hazra Road center of Anandan, which consists of two rooms in a Municipal School. One room is used for students of classes I to IV, and the other for students of classes V to X. The rooms had a computer each and were for the use of the children attending the general classes, as well as for those specifically attending the computer classes.

The children seemed happy and confident in general. The teachers emphasized how the children are very enthusiastic to come to the center. The textbooks and workbooks being used for the younger children were pictorial and colorful.

Emphasis is also given to extra-curricular activities. There are classes for singing, drawing, and Yoga. The children seemed to enjoy reciting and singing as a group when asked by the teacher.

Also present was a teacher who had been a student of Anandan, and is now attending college. She makes time to come and teach the younger children at Anandan.

Afterwards we went to the Janak Road center of Anandan, which houses the Anandan office in addition to classrooms, and a computer room with three computers for computer classes. Initially I spoke with the board members of Anandan, who discussed their plans for expansion of the computer classes. This would involve hiring of more advanced computer teachers and the procurement of more computers. The option of buying a laptop was discussed. This would involve greater initial and recurring expenses, but would enable teachers to travel to different locations (in addition to the Hazra road and Janak road centers) and hold classes. However, the choice between a desktop and a laptop is by no means clear due to the more fragile nature of laptops.

The students at the computer class were learning basic operations in Microsoft Word. They seemed comfortable in interacting with the teacher.

We also discussed innovative teaching methods that had been demonstrated to one of the Anandan staff at a conference. The possibility of adopting similar methods at Anandan was discussed and is to be followed up on.

Overall, my impression was that Anandan is meeting its goal of providing a stimulating environment for formal studies and co-curricular activities. The presence of a former student as a teacher is encouraging, and should be replicated further. The vocational training classes (including the computer class) have met with some success in terms of providing jobs for the trainees, leading to their popularity. In fact, there was an incident where a well-to-do person was trying to take advantage of the computer classes, which are provided at a token cost. In this regard, the need for a process of screening the background of the applicants was discussed.

---Ranitendranath Tagore, volunteer Asha-Yale.